Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science

The MIT School of Science is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The school is composed of 6 academic departments and grants S.B., S.M., and the Ph.D. or Sc.D degrees. The current Dean of Science is Professor Marc A. Kastner. With approximately 300 faculty members, 1200 graduate students, 1000 undergraduate majors, the school is the second largest at MIT. 16 faculty members and 16 alumni of the school have won Nobel Prizes.^[1]

Biology

The Department of Biology (Course VII) began as a department of natural history in 1871.

Brain and Cognitive Sciences

The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Course IX) began as the Department of Psychology in 1964.^[2]

Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry (Course V) was one of the original departments when MIT opened in 1865.^[3]

Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

The Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (Course XII) was formed from the 1983 merger of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, the former tracing its origins back to the first geology courses taught at MIT in 1865.^[4]

Mathematics

See main article MIT Mathematics Department

Department web site Department of Mathematics (Course XVIII)

Physics

The Department of Physics (Course VIII)

Affiliated laboratories and centers

Bates Linear Accelerator

Center for Cancer Research

Center for Global Change Science

Center for Ultracold Atoms

The MIT–Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) is a collaborative research laboratory between MIT and Harvard University.

The core research program in the CUA consists of four collaborative experimental projects whose goals are to provide new sources of ultracold atoms and quantum gases, and new types of atom-wave devices. These projects will enable new research on topics such as quantum fluids, atom/photon optics, coherence, spectroscopy, ultracold collisions, and quantum devices. In addition, the CUA has a theoretical program centered on themes of quantum optics, many-body physics, wave physics, and atomic structure and interactions.

The Director of the CUA is Wolfgang Ketterle (a 2001 Nobel laureate in physics) from MIT.^[5][6]

Earth Resources Laboratory (ERL)

Experimental Study Group

Laboratory for Nuclear Science

McGovern Institute for Brain Research

Main article: McGovern Institute for Brain Research

MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics & Space Research

Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

Main article: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate

Spectroscopy Laboratory

George R. Wallace, Jr. Astrophysical Observatory

References

1. ^ "About MIT's School of Science". MIT. http://web.mit.edu/science/about/index.html. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
2. ^ "About BCS/History". MIT. http://web.mit.edu/bcs/aboutbcs/history.shtml. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
3. ^ "MIT Chemistry: History of the Department". MIT. http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/about/history.html. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
4. ^ "MIT EAPS: History". MIT. http://eapsweb.mit.edu/about/history.html. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
5. ^ Mass. Inst. of Tech., Research Lab. of Electronics, MIT–Harvard Ctr. for Ultracold Atoms. (2009). "Contact". http://cuaweb.mit.edu/Pages/ContactUs.aspx. Retrieved 2009-10-19.  (“Director: Ketterle, Wolfgang … MIT …; Co-Directors: Doyle … Harvard …; Kleppner … MIT …”)
6. ^ National Science Found., Comm. of Visitors of the Div. of Physics. (2006). Report of the Committee of Visitors to the Division of Physics (FY 2006 ed.). http://www.nsf.gov/mps/advisory/covdocs/PHYcov_06.pdf.  PHYcov_06.pdf (“The 2001 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to the [Bose-Einstein condensates] work of … Wieman, … Cornell and … Ketterle.”)